OpenClaw is a free, open-source AI assistant that runs on your own computer. It's the software behind most Easy Claw NYC deployments.
The Backstory
OpenClaw was created by Peter Steinberger in November 2025. Originally called "Clawdbot" it gained over 100,000 GitHub stars and 2 million visitors in the first week after it was published.
What followed was possibly the fastest triple rebrand in open source history. Anthropic's lawyers did not like the similarity between Claude and Clawdbot so the name was changed to Moltbot. This was met with mixed public response, and three days later it was changed again, to OpenClaw.
The controversy only made it more popular. The project picked up 91,000 additional GitHub stars within 72 hours of the rebrand. As of February 2026, OpenClaw has over 214,000 GitHub stars, 40,000+ forks, and 900+ contributors. Peter Steinberger recently announced he's joining OpenAI, and OpenClaw is moving to an independent open-source foundation, with OpenAI's continued support.
So What Does It Actually Do?
OpenClaw is not a chatbot. It's an AI agent. An agent plans and executes multi-step tasks on its own. You tell OpenClaw to clear your inbox and reschedule your Tuesday meetings, and it does it. You tell it to check your flight status and update your team in Slack, and it handles the whole process without the need for additional human intervention.
It runs locally on your machine - Mac, Windows, or Linux. It connects to the messaging apps your team already uses (WhatsApp, Slack, Discord, Teams, and about a dozen others) and works through those channels. Send it a message like you would a coworker, and it gets to work.
OpenClaw is also model-agnostic. It works with whichever AI model you prefer - Claude, ChatGPT, or even models you run locally on your own hardware. You're not locked into any one provider.
There's also a growing ecosystem of "skills" - pre-built integrations for things like Gmail, GitHub, Spotify, smart home devices, and thousands more. The community has built thousands of them so far.
Why We Built a Business Around It
OpenClaw is free and open source. Anyone can download it. But "download and run" is a very different thing from "properly set up and secure." The software is powerful, but it needs to be configured correctly to be reliable and effective, which requires network isolation, access controls, integrations, and more.
That's what Easy Claw NYC does. We handle the hardware, the network security, and the configuration so your team can start using it on day one.
If you're curious about what a deployment looks like, head back to our homepage or book your deployment now.
Curious what OpenClaw can actually do? Read our capabilities breakdown.